Harry Haller wrote:
Having a brain and actually using it (i.e. exercising independent thought) can be pretty lonely.
Don't waste time "confronting" and offering independently verifiable fact, logic/rational thought.
Those operating by Belief, are operating independently of fact and reason.
In reality, for these Believers, facts often contradict Belief, and so rather than reject Belief, facts are assiduously avoided and rejected at all cost.
Remember, those who navigate life with Belief, are the most dangerous.
Consider history.
Maintaining a low profile when surrounded by these is Wisdom.
Indeed, I'm well aware that it would likely do no good to confront them. Just that the alternative isn't a good place to be either. And sometimes circumstances unmask me. I can't shield from Covid for months without people noticing that there must be a difference between their idea of the pandemic and mine. What was I supposed to say when somebody asked me what church I went to? What would they think if one of them lived nearby and could plainly see that I never go to church?
It's very different from where I was living before. The only religious people I knew were immigrants, who presumably appreciated that they were in a rather secular region. And as a rule people took the pandemic seriously. Political views were at worst centre-left. When I aired my views on religion, politics or public health, they were not controversial.
Not that it matters much from day to day. I rarely see people, apart from my wife who doesn't hold the views of the locals either.
27 Jul 2021, 12:01 pm
